Hi everyone,
I did a little search and did not find much on this subject, but here's a little situation I am in:
I consider myself a mostly avg., mid-tier applicant - 31Q, 3.5 GPA, but with pretty strong extracurriculurs: I was a mental health tech in the military and spent a year deployed to Iraq, I worked as a tech in an ER on the weekends for two years in college, and good volunteer record, etc.
Anyway, I moved from Minnesota to California last year, just because I knew I would have some time before the 2010 app cycle, and figured it could help diversify my background some more for CA and other OOS schools since I didn't get any interviews from these types last time I applied. I was very fortunate, and got a nice full-time job with bene's as a Research Associate at UCLA, and thought it would hopefully be the icing on the cake - clinical, volunteer, and now research on the app. So I included it on my primaries and all my secondaries.
Well, I just was "involuntarily released from the probationary period" after about 3.5 months; my boss really did not seem to like me very much, and essentially they wanted somebody who just had more job experience and administrative background (I had none, and was just learning everything on the fly).
A blow to the ego, to be sure, but my question is how do I handle questions about this in upcoming interviews this winter? I have lost my income and will prob have to move back to MN, which clearly will stand out as opposed to the much more logical alternative of simply sticking with a good job in CA until school starts next year. Thus, I will not be able to pull the usual, "yeeah, I just needed an opportunity for more responsibility" or "I felt like I had accomplished a lot and wanted to grow in other areas"...Basically, I failed in this respect, and now I need to figure out how damaging this is going to look in the interview. Especially as it happened just a few months prior to any potential interview - no "those were my wild and immature days" type of spinning either.
Last part then: do you think it would matter much whether I return to MN or stay in CA? Who would this matter to? I might try to stick it out here in LA through interview season but it's so expensive I don't know how long I can last.
Thanks, as always, for your candid and helpful thoughts! Have a good day...
I did a little search and did not find much on this subject, but here's a little situation I am in:
I consider myself a mostly avg., mid-tier applicant - 31Q, 3.5 GPA, but with pretty strong extracurriculurs: I was a mental health tech in the military and spent a year deployed to Iraq, I worked as a tech in an ER on the weekends for two years in college, and good volunteer record, etc.
Anyway, I moved from Minnesota to California last year, just because I knew I would have some time before the 2010 app cycle, and figured it could help diversify my background some more for CA and other OOS schools since I didn't get any interviews from these types last time I applied. I was very fortunate, and got a nice full-time job with bene's as a Research Associate at UCLA, and thought it would hopefully be the icing on the cake - clinical, volunteer, and now research on the app. So I included it on my primaries and all my secondaries.
Well, I just was "involuntarily released from the probationary period" after about 3.5 months; my boss really did not seem to like me very much, and essentially they wanted somebody who just had more job experience and administrative background (I had none, and was just learning everything on the fly).
A blow to the ego, to be sure, but my question is how do I handle questions about this in upcoming interviews this winter? I have lost my income and will prob have to move back to MN, which clearly will stand out as opposed to the much more logical alternative of simply sticking with a good job in CA until school starts next year. Thus, I will not be able to pull the usual, "yeeah, I just needed an opportunity for more responsibility" or "I felt like I had accomplished a lot and wanted to grow in other areas"...Basically, I failed in this respect, and now I need to figure out how damaging this is going to look in the interview. Especially as it happened just a few months prior to any potential interview - no "those were my wild and immature days" type of spinning either.
Last part then: do you think it would matter much whether I return to MN or stay in CA? Who would this matter to? I might try to stick it out here in LA through interview season but it's so expensive I don't know how long I can last.
Thanks, as always, for your candid and helpful thoughts! Have a good day...
